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July 09, 2008

Comments

HouseofJules

I love the girl in the white dress, chomping away on an apple the entire time. This show makes me woozy (in the good way).
Jules
House of Jules

Billy

Ya inspirational, that's all good and fine, but when is Heather Mills going to be the guest judge?? BTW "freakishly inspiring"-you bad boy!

StarDelicious

coco

Recaps?

spazmo

This show doesn't put average girls through the reality show grinder like ANTM, it takes vulnerable ones and pitches an old-fashioned freakshow tent over their heads.

Which...I mean, fuck that.

And did you notice? None of these girls have birthmarks or facial deformities. The lesson being what - that true beauty still has its standards?

I've seen enough.

Gretchen

And did you notice? None of these girls have birthmarks or facial deformities. The lesson being what - that true beauty still has its standards?

They're models-- or at least, they're trying to be. How many violations of traditional beauty do you think it's appropriate to ask for? Should we complain because none of them weigh over 200 pounds? Should we complain because none of them is a burn victim?

Normal

I thought this was going to be a horrible train wreck of wrong, but it's actually quite interesting and thoughtful. The show seems self-aware in a way that ANTM totally isn't. The producers are clearly trying to make a difference, not pretend that disabled women will easily find a home in the fashion industry. The debate in the second episode about deafness as "not disabled enough" was, again, pretty thoughtful for a show like this.

I don't get a "freakshow" vibe at all, spazmo. The show seems to be trying to show "beauty with disability," nothing more or less.

Dandy Darkly

You need to host a Reality TV seminar and discussion somewhere in NYC.

Vanessa

I dunno. It's prolly admirable but the focus on their missing extremities makes me queasy. Every limb I have is distressed at the moment.

sarah

damnit i wish i had that channel.

balancingfoxes

thank you for highlighting this show for me!
I was so looking forward to seeing it.. but having the crappy american tv i figured i wasn't going to be able to see it until VH1 started showing it in reruns some random tuesday... you can see the second episode as well on youtube..and it just gets BETTER..god bless you fo fo

spikenard

If you think BNTM is good - try Australia's Next Top Model.

add-mmm

I like the idea of hijacking the concept of the show and exploring new territory with it. This show is especially interesting because it challenges the concept of accepted beauty, which in my opinion needs some shaking up. But like all these types of shows *ANTM, Most Extreme, etc...*, I wonder how long it'll take before Blue Cross Blue Shield starts donating prosthetics for advertising credits.

bleubird

Jenny FTW, probably yes, but man, she's annoying and self-absorbed.

speedymarie

Love this show. I thought it would be much, much different than it is.

hughman

this was pretty awesome. i especially loved how the women sat around and just asked how the others were disabled - something people might want to do all the time but are too ashamed.

i was probably most weirded out by the one girl who was in Playboy. that sounded like Playboy was only doing it for some kinky reason.

the only thing i thought was a little weird was the "uniforms and no make-up" thing. not something any model would have to face. as someone who worked in that industry for many years, i have to say the opposite is true. many a woman shows up on a shoot looking meh but after wardrobe and makeup looks amazing, it really is a matter of how you look in front of the camera not in person.


Betty

Have you read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn? I'm reading it right now and your post made me think of it. It's basically about this family of self-made circus freaks and how they interact with "norms" and it raises all these questions of exploitation and the fascination with the unknown. This show looks a lot better than I imagined it would- I was afraid it'd be a bit more gimmicky. The guy claiming disability has a place in fashion because it has a place in life strikes me as being really insincere, though. Since when has fashion had ANYTHING really to do with real life?

Brandon H

This show. Oh...wow. Ummm. No thank you.

Easter Buffy

Rich, I so wish you would do recaps of this show. The producers love to highlight the one judge saying," Disability is a part of sport, it's a part of life, it should be a part of fashion," so why not comment on it? I'm not saying make fun of anyone's disability, but not only has the show stolen the ANTM format (well, everyone has stolen that format), but the challenges and photo shoots as well. Seriously, the girls had to stand in lingerie in a window a la the Barney's challenge from Cycle 3 ANTM wherein Simon Doonan judged their performances, and they had to pose as pin ups with some Ford car in Cycle 5 ANTM. Please tell me this doesn't beg for comparison.

I do agree it's actually better than ANTM, because you're so rooting for each girl in her own way to somehow be accepted despite her disability.

And the hats they had to model were pretty fabulous as well. Thank god somebody still makes hats.

And She's Got the Look is coming back for a second season. Yeah! Glad they went with an older model, although I preferred the other runners up (who I hope, like ANTM runners up, get representation).

Looking forward to the resumption of your ANTM commentary, but not necessarily the resumption of ANTM. Have a groovy summer.

fb

this show is actually quite good to watch at this time, since there isn't another spinoff on at the moment...

but seriously i feel so guilty watching this who because i end up laughing at them and making dumb jokes:

which concludes that i will definitely be going to hell.

gm

I watched this show kind of expecting it to be a typical NTM trainwreck. I was pleasantly surprised by how legitmately affected I was by the girls and their stories. I don't expect any of them to really have modeling careers outside of the winner who will at least have a spread under her belt. I don't even care about the modeling aspects of this show, anyway, though. I just like to see how the girls cope with their problems. They aren't all admirable or well adjusted either. I think that the saddest girl is probably Sophie. She clearly puts down the other girls because she hasn't accepted her own disability. I kind of hope that she's able to get over that a bit in the course of the series and see how maybe her situation is tolerable in comparison to other people's.

Kaitlin

holy shit. i checked out this show because of your posting. and wow. it's amazing. seriously. it's weird to see people that you are so fond of and proud of on a reality television show. i just finished episode three and it brought me to tears. woah. [jenny was my personal favourite.]
i'm going into rehabilitation services [essentially helping the disabled] and it's just wow. everyone should watch this show just for a lesson in life. amazing.

Sarah

I like it. I want an episode summary from you! There is PLENTY to be said about the third episode...

Shane

FTW? Can someone tell me what this stands for?

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